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Michigan Expects To Face Charged Up Foe

Michigan Expects To Face Charged Up Foe image
Parent Issue
Ann Arbor News, September 26, 1969
Article Author
Wayne DeNeff
Day
26
Month
September
Year
1969
Copyright
Copyright Protected
Rights Held By
Donated by the Ann Arbor News. © The Ann Arbor News.
OCR Text

MICHIGAN EXPECTS TO FACE CHARGED UP FOE

INCENTIVES PLENTIFUL FOR HUSKIES

By Wayne DeNeff

Michigan expects to confront a revved up Washington Football team at Michigan Stadium tomorrow when the Wolverines go after their second victory under new Coach Bo Schembechler.

Washington Coach Jim owens has an ambulance of psyschological weapons to spur the Huskies.

There’s thematter of the Huskies doing their part to uphold the prestige of the Pacific-8 which had a .750 average (six wins, two losses) against intersectional rivals last Saturday. And there’s pride. The Huskies were responsible for one of those losses (27-11 to Michigan State) and another loss to a Big Ten team would be hard to take. Top-ranked Ohio State is next on the schedule for Washington in the home opener at Seattle.

There is also the fact that Washington never has scored on Michigan —taking a 50-0 beating in 1953 and a 14-0 loss in 1954.

Some have suggested Washington might be caught looking ahead to the Buckeyes but that seems unlikely in view of its losing season in 1968 and the one loss already on the record book. It’s more likely the Huskies, long a power on the West Coast, are desperate to win now.

The Pacific-8 opened its non-conference schedule last Saturday and Southern Cal trimmed Nebraska (31-12), Oregon State thumped Iowa (42-14), Oregon got by Utah (28-17), UCLA trounced Pitt (42-8), Stanford walloped San Jose State (63-21) and Washington State nipped Illinois (19-18). On the losing side for the Pacific-8 were Washington and California, a 17-0 loser to Texas.

Pacific-8 teams have another rugged intersectional round this weekend with California at Indiana, OSU at Arizona State, Northwestern at USC, UCLA at Wisconsin and Washington State at Iowa in addition to Washington at Michigan.

While only an estimated 51,000 will watch tomorrow’s game in the stadium here, there’ll be many times that many viewing the regional telecast which will be seen in the midwest and beamed to the West Coast.

The game will start at 1:45 p.m., 15 minutes later than usual, while the telecast will start at 1:30 p.m. with pregame activities.

Michigan will get another look at the triple option Saturday although Owens’ version is a bit different and is patterned after his friend and former boss at Washington, Darrell Royal, the coach at Texas.

It’s sometimes called the “Y” or “Wishbone” offense because fullback Bo Cornell lines up about four yards behind the center and the halfbacks five yards behind the guards. The quarterback, in this case junior Gene Willis, is the key to the success of the triple option.

Willis can run and pass and scramble a bit which makes him suitable for the triple option.

Defense has been Washington’s forte for many years and it’s expected to be strong again in 1969.

Washington stresses speed at the defensive ends and linebacker positions and the Huskies are said to have good overall quickness.

The secondary started out as a special concern for Owens because of the graduation of Al Worley, the NCAA record-breaking interception king. Worley picked off 14 passes in 1968. Two other defensive backs have graduated but in the opening game Mark McMahon, Tom Verti and Bob Berg played well and Owens now feels a lot better about the secondary.

PHOTO CAPTION: Linebackers: Michigan’s two starting linebackers are Marty Huff (top) and Ed Moore. Huff, a 6-2, 220-pound junior from Toledo, raced 31 yards with a blocked punt against Vanderbilt. Moore is a 6-1, 210-pound junior from Youngstown, Ohio.